Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015

This is the newsletter

of the Maryland

Automotive Modelers

Association

Anybody show for

the May meeting? Would

you admit it if you did?!

We were all busy the

weekend prior at our

show in Glen Burnie.

Look inside for the re-

sults if you weren’t there.

Rich Wilson this

month takes a peek at the

neat Moebius Hudson (!)

in the review section—

thanks, Rich!

Thanks to Matt Guil-

MAMA NNL is Toast!

MAMA Sez is the official monthly publication of the Maryland Automotive Modelers Association. Articles as attributed by author and source, and may be reprinted with proper credit given. Opinions expressed are those of nobody of any importance. Any corre-

spondence or contributions should be sent to: Timothy Sickle, 15905 Ark Court, Bowie, Maryland 20716.

NOTE!

Condolences 1

Moebius Hornet 2

‘Gov-a-mint Motors!’ 4

T ‘n T 6

NNL East 8

Mid-Atlantic NNL 9

Book Report! 10

New Stuff! 11

Late-Breakin’! 11

Model Buffet 12

Tamiya 300SL 13

Next-Gen Racers?! 14

Duelin’ Car Movies! 15

2015 Meeting Schedule Meetings are scheduled for

the third Saturday of the month

from 11 am to 2 pm (unless noted otherwise). Do NOT as-

sume meeting dates—confirm

them with a club officer!

January 17th

February 21st

March 21st

April 11th

May NONE (!)

June 20th

July 18th

August 15th

September 19th

October 17th

November 21st

December 19th

Inclement weather phone

number: (301) 474-0646.

foyle for the

Model Buffet column AND

the piece on

the Tamiya

Mercedes

300SL.

With no

May meeting,

there was ob-

viously no Pontiac Pa-

rade.

Again, with no May

meeting, there was no

raffle, so no one to

thank!

So, what’re you

waitin’ for?!

Thomas Jefferson

McFiren, Jr., 68 of Me-

chanicsburg, passed

away April 19, 2015.

Born April 8, 1947 in

Fresno, CA, he was the

son of Thomas J., Sr. of

Shady Side, MD and the

late Esther (Giovacchi)

McFiren.

Tom grew up in the

Wheaton, MD area and

resided in Taylorsville

and Germantown, MD.

He was a graduate of

Northwood High School

Class of ‘65 and was a

US Air Force

vet of the Vi-

etnam war. He

retired from the US Post-

al service after 39 years

serving Montgomery

County, MD. He was al-

so a former employee

with the Harrisburg Auto

Auction until his retire-

ment in 2011.

He was an avid auto

aficionado holding mem-

berships with AACA,

ATCA, the Good Guys,

Southside Boys, Vintage

Tin of Maryland, a life

member of NSRA, a

founding member of the

Injectors of Maryland

Car

Club

and a

former

member

of the

Capital

Street

Rods (and MAMA!). He

was a contributor to the

AACA Museum and an

avid vendor for 30+

years with Carlisle, Her-

shey, and York Toy

Show events.

Surviving in addition

to his father is his wife of

19 years Mary Belle; a

daughter Sarah Ellen Ar-

(Continued on page 16)

Condolences!

MAMA Sez!

Man! It’s an absolute crime what they did to this Roadrunner (LOL)!

Page 2 MAMA Sez!

the body for

each subsequent

year. They also

had the biggest

engine at the

time at 308 cu-

bic inches. I did-

n’t realize that

the hood had a

functional

scoop, at least

for the twin H option. The twin H

option actually cost less than the

radio! Smokey Yunick raced one

of the earlier Hornets with great

success. I remember that he light-

ened the flywheel and installed

reverse rotation camshafts and

neither his driver nor the NAS-

CAR inspectors ever figured that

out.

Oddly enough, this is the first

Moebius kit I’ve had a chance to

get close to. As much as building

models, I enjoy learning what

makes/made the real cars “tick”.

Like the famous “step down” fea-

ture that all cars have had ever

since. Just looking at the ladder

type chassis, which had to be very

stiff, isn’t enough. You have to

look at the separate floor pan to

see how the “step downs” fit be-

tween the frame rails and the seats

on top of the cross members. And

notice how radically curved the

windshield is compared to Fords

or Chevys of the time. Hudson

incorporated an astoundingly huge

rear cross member at the rear of

the chassis that matches the shape

of the rear bumper. As protective

as it was, they never thought of

the “controlled crush” design used

today. Can you say

Let me say up front that I have

always found all Hudsons butt ug-

ly and that’s their fault, not

Moebius’. Every time I see a pic-

ture of a ‘51 Hornet, I remember

the movie “Porkies” and have to

chuckle. But if Hudsons were bet-

ter looking than I think they are,

then why didn’t they sell better?

The answer seems to be that they

did, but they cost a great deal to

produce. The first gen Hornets

were very streamlined, compara-

tively. But we make the mistake

of thinking “aerodynamic” is anal-

ogous with good looking, and it’s

not. By 1955, the Hudson compa-

ny was sold to Nash/Kelvinator.

At a time when V-8s were becom-

ing very popular, Hudson never

made one. I just learned that Hud-

son was the first manufacturer to

join NASCAR. In 1952, Marshall

Teague, between NASCAR and

AAA, won 40 of 48 events. That’s

an 83% average and I’d bet even

Jimmy Johnson couldn’t touch

THAT kind of average. Apparent-

ly, Hudson started the idea of us-

ing “severe usage” parts which

were really racing parts in dis-

guise. Hudson came up with the

“step down” body feature which

lowered the center of gravity. But

that bit them in the ass because of

the extra expense of redesigning

“WHIPLASH” (oh crap, that

hurt)!!

With 132 parts, this kit is on

par with others, and there are 27

chromed pieces. I’m surprised at

the use of a metal axle for the rear

wheels. It’s obvious that there is

another version of this coming

later by the parts that have been

removed by Moebius, but there

are others here that aren’t used as

well, like a ‘51 Hornet dash.

Engine: It, of course, depicts

the 170hp “Twin H power” ver-

sion of the 6 banger, and I’m not

complaining, but the inclusion of

the single carb 160 hp version

would be neat. It seems hard to

believe that there are 28 pieces to

it, but there are pieces like throttle

linkage, road tube and twin three-

piece air cleaners. Spark plug wir-

ing and such should be added, but

don’t ask me what the firing order

is. The provided pics show the

engine as red, but I was under the

impression that silver or gold was

the correct color. It may be the

difference between the base en-

gine and the Twin H version. The

transmission is cast to the engine

and I presume it’s a 3-speed. Flat-

heads were such simple engines

and everything that would be con-

(Continued on page 3)

1954 Hudson Hornet

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 3

dan kit from

several years

ago with its

fabulous wire

wheels. Well the

wire wheels in

this kit are every

bit as good if not

better. If it were-

n’t for the fact

that they are

Hudson wheels,

they would be worth swapping

onto other models. They are spec-

tacular and worth the price of ad-

mission by themselves. When I

first saw them I thought they had

to be two-piece that were assem-

bled by Moebius. I had to look

very close, front and back to see

they are in fact one-piece. I’d like

to see the mold that produced

them. The tires with their wide

whites are just as nice with very

accurate tread pattern, but they

seem a little wide for 1954.

Body/Glass: It seems that

with the release of every new kit

these days there is a contingent of

second class modelers whose sole

purpose is to find fault with said

kit. I’ve heard that people are

complaining about the rough fin-

ish on the body. Well that’s not

totally true. We are used to the

bodies being so shiny that we can

see ourselves in them, but then we

have to lightly sand it in prepara-

tion for priming. Yes it has a tex-

ture to it, BUT it won’t require

sanding like those idiots are

claiming. I had to look very close

to see the mold lines and they may

not need sanding either. These

complainers need to find another

hobby (IMO). The glass seems a

touch on the thick side compared

to others, but it’s not bad at all.

Hornet (contd)

It’s actually thinner than some

I’ve seen in recent years. If I were

building this kit, I’d have to open

up the hood scoop for realism. It

comes with a separate chrome air-

plane trim piece. A nice touch is

the gas filler door which is sepa-

rate and poseable. The fender

skirts are molded in. I’m not sure

if removing them on a real car

would help removing the tire.

Hinges and hood supports are in-

cluded, but only to hold the hood

open. The firewall has a full com-

plement of accessories like two

windshield mechanisms and one

motor along with twin horns. I’m

surprised at how small the wipers

are. All the glass fits from inside

with only the door glass not in-

cluded. There is what I believe is

the external metal sunvisor, but it

may be for the earlier Hudson kits.

The taillights have chrome bezels

and clear red pieces and the head-

lights are clear pieces as well. An-

other Hudson trait I find ugly is

the roof mounted aerial. The trunk

gets the expected chrome script,

but the rest are decals. The only

remaining decals are for the air

cleaners and under the hood.

For those that have bought

other Moebius kits, the paper

quality of the instructions is

known to you; I find it strange,

(Continued on page 10)

sidered a separate part is just that,

including a throttle post which is a

different part from the linkage!

Chassis: Naturally, it’s quite

simple with only two parts, but the

front and rear suspensions make

up the difference with nine parts

each. In an era of buggy springs,

this car has front and rear sway

bars. My ‘66 Mustang didn’t have

them. There’s no reasonable way

to make the frontend steerable, but

that’s not a bad thing. For all of

Hudsons’ forward thinking, the

master cylinder mounts under the

floor.

Interior: This kit, being from

a brand new tool, the interior is of

the platform type. Special thanks

should go to Moebius for putting

the ejector pin marks under the

seat locations. It keeps the carpet

texture uninterrupted. The door

panels have very nice three-

dimensional detail including map

pockets front and rear. The seats

seem to have the correct roll and

pleat patterns to them. I especially

like the separate grab ropes for the

seat back just above two more

storage pockets. The steering

wheel is a chrome item as is the

steering column. I was suspect of

the chromed column so I did a

google image search and found

several cars restored that way.

Maybe a Hudson nut could verify

if they were available that way.

There are decals for the gauges,

dash scripts and steering wheel

hub. The heater and triple pedals

are the only remaining pieces.

Tires/Wheels: Most of us may

remember the Jaguar Mark 2 se-

(Continued from page 2)

Page 4 MAMA Sez!

the defects.

The total cost to

‘GMC’ as a result of the

switch problems is esti-

mated to be nearly $400

mil. One plaintiff’s law-

yer estimated the suits, if

allowed to proceed, could

have cost ‘GMC’ billions

of dollars. Obama and

the government just couldn’t al-

low THAT! Oh, and the death toll

has risen to 107, and payouts have

reached $200 mil as of March

31st. Way to protect US “gov’t”!

For some strange

reason, ‘GMC’ is ad-

justing pricing for

their upcoming ‘16

Volt plug-in hybrid DOWNWARD (!?). The new car

will start at $33,995 (including

shipping), when it goes on sale

this Fall. The current car costs

$35,170.

‘GMC’ says it can reduce the

price because costs for lithium-ion

batteries are falling. Surely, it has

nothing to do with the fact that

Volt sales have been positively

hammered by falling gas prices,

with sales down 46 percent?

Nah!! ‘GMC’s’ Australian arm,

Holden, is recalling certain model

year ‘13 Holden Volts over

an intricate issue that results

in the vehicle’s internal com-

bustion engine starting up

unbeknownst to the custom-

er, resulting in the potential

buildup of carbon monoxide.

The problem: if the driver

forgets to turn the vehicle off

when exiting and does not

A judge has ruled that ‘GMC’

is protected from dozens of law-

suits over faulty ignitions switch-

es as a result of its ‘09 bankruptcy

filing.

‘GMC’ has admitted it failed

to alert regulators and issue a

timely recall of cars that had

faulty ignition switches which

could cause a vehicle to acceler-

ate.

The switches were linked to

160 injuries and 84 deaths.

Those filing the lawsuits

against ‘GMC’ had argued that the

firm violated their

rights when it failed to

disclose the defect.

However, ‘GMC’

said it was protected

from those suits that were related

to vehicles manufactured before it

exited bankruptcy in ‘09

(‘GMC’s’ lawyers saw to that!).

US bankruptcy judge Robert

Gerber agreed with ‘GMC’, and

said that the lawsuits would have

to be filed against “old GM”,

which is essentially the shell com-

pany ‘GMC’ set up as part of its

bankruptcy proceedings which

contains all of the company’s bad

assets (i.e., NO MONEY!!).

‘GMC’ was forced to recall

nearly 2.6 million vehicles as a

result of the defect, and set up a

claims facility to compensate vic-

tims who could prove they suf-

fered harm as a result of the de-

fect.

However, those suing ‘GMC’

were generally those who were

not compensated as a result of that

fund or who alleged a loss of val-

ue in their vehicle as a result of

‘Gov-a-mint Motors!’

heed the associated warning

beeps, the battery may deplete to a

level sufficient for the Volt’s in-

ternal combustion engine to start

up in order to maintain charge in

the electrical system. The engine

may continue to run until the vehi-

cle runs out of fuel.

If the vehicle runs for long

periods of time in a closed envi-

ronment, carbon monoxide could

build up and potentially cause

harm to customers.

Affected vehicles include ‘13

Holden Volt made between May

7, ‘12 and Mar 20, ‘13, with an

unspecified number of vehicles

affected.

The US-market Volt was re-

called in March over the same is-

sue. The recall added an idle time-

out function to the car’s software

that limits the time that the vehicle

can be left in the “on” position.

The update was applied free of

(Continued on page 5)

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 5

charge.

Meanwhile, ‘GMC’s’ Austral-

ian arm, Holden, is also recalling

over 26,000 Colorado utes

(pickup truck) and family SUVs

because of an issue that can result

in the vehicles catching fire. The

recall applies to nearly every unit

of the Colorado sold in the past

18 months.

The problem is the federal

government’s recalls bulletin

states that “The Alternator B+

Electrical Cable may have been

assembled in contact with a steel

bracket at the battery tray” and

that “under certain driving condi-

tions the insulation on the cable

may wear, resulting in the poten-

tial for an electrical short circuit to

develop between the cable and the

bracket”, thereby potentially

catching fire and posing a risk of

injury to the vehicle occupants

and other motorists.

Holden says that drivers of

affected vehicles may notice a bat-

tery warning light on the instru-

ment cluster or “in more serious

cases a small amount of smoke

may be emitted from the engine

bay area”.

Holden has issued a “stop de-

livery” notice to dealers. It is also

urging Colorado owners to bring

their cars in for repairs. Holden

says that five customers experi-

enced “thermal incidents”.

The Colorado SUV, also

known as the Holden Colorado 7

(for its capacity of passengers) is

otherwise known as the Chevy

Trailblazer elsewhere across the

Asia-Pacific markets.

(Continued from page 4)

‘Gov’t’ (contd)

The Colorado ute/pickup truck

is otherwise known as the interna-

tional-market Chevy Colorado,

which has little in common with

the Colorado sold in the US and

Canada.

Both vehicles are assembled at

‘GMC’s’ plant in Thailand.

‘GMC’ is recalling 3,690 ‘13

Malibus over an issue with the

transmission gear selection indica-

tor, which fails to comply with

federal motor vehicle safety re-

quirements.

If the console shift indicator

does not illuminate the transmis-

sion gear selection, a driver could

inadvertently select a transmission

position other than the position the

driver intended, increasing the risk

of a crash.

The problem: in the affected

vehicles, the console transmission

gear selection indicator may not

illuminate the shift position select-

ed. If this occurs, then the vehicle

fails to comply with the require-

ments of Federal Motor Vehicle

Safety Standard (FMVSS) number

102, “Transmission Shift Position

Sequence, Starter Interlock, and

Transmission Braking Effect.”

‘GMC’ dealers will replace

the transmission gear selection

control module, free of charge.

ALMOST a recall?! There’s a

potential problem concerning the

eighth-gen Malibu, according to a

recent report by ABC News

(surprised?!). ‘GMC’ has even

recognized the issue but at this

point is not issuing a recall or

even a service bulletin.

The problem isn’t life threat-

ening but it’s still an issue none-

theless: the 2.5L engine with stop/

start technology won’t shutoff at

stoplights.

2014 GMC Recall Ticker

# of Recalls 87 (?!)

# of Vehicles Affected 30,650,454

Like many modern cars, the

2014/2015 Malibu with the 2.5L

Ecotec engine is equipped with

start/stop technology that’s sup-

posed to shutoff the engine at

stoplights in order to save fuel.

But that’s just not happening, says

Malibu owner Russell Gordon.

“I couldn’t get it to initialize

so I kept going back to the dealer-

ship to explain to them that there

was an issue,” says Gordon. “It

was really starting to irritate me”.

While Gordon’s original deal-

ership couldn’t figure it out, a dif-

ferent dealership took a peek and

concluded there was a malfunc-

tion in the brake position module.

The news outlet reached out to

‘GMC’ for comment and a

spokesperson replied via email:

“We are aware of a potential

issue with the Brake Pedal Posi-

tion Sensor and are currently eval-

uating. We are trying to better un-

derstand root cause at this point.”

The news outlet failed to rec-

ognized that the 2014/15 Malibu

is also equipped with stop/start as

standard, and we’re curious as to

whether or not the alleged prob-

lem also extends to the more pop-

ular mainstream Malibu.

The company says its engi-

neers are eager to speak with own-

ers like Gordon in order to better

understand the issue, but at this

point there are no plans to issue a

recall or even a service bulletin.

However, a very similar recall

was issued not too long ago.

The beat(down) goes on.

Page 6 MAMA Sez!

of Ford dealers are maneuvering

to save the famous company from

V8 Supercar extinction and have

called on Ford Australia to recon-

sider their decision to abandon the

sport. Ford shocked Australia last

year by pulling all V8 Supercar

funding and only remain in the

sport on a stay of execution with

DJR Team Penske and Prodrive

Australia racing five soon to be

made extinct Falcons. Petitions

from fans and a public uproar

failed to stop Ford from axing the

sport after plans to axe the Falcon

at the end of ‘16 and shut down

Australian manufacturing were

announced. But a high level man-

agement change at Ford Austral-

ia—the CEO and marketing man-

ager who were responsible for the

decision to abandon the V8 were

both leaving the company last

month—and the dealer lobbying

could now see Ford stay in the

sport. “The dealers are prepared to

fund half the amount required to

run a factory team,” said a well-

placed source. “They have asked

Ford to match their commitment

and come back into the sport.”

The ‘one size fits all’ chassis set

to be introduced in ‘17 under the

next gen Supercars, along with the

(Continued on page 7)

This n That

ty of pop. “It’s a beast with ad-

vanced guts,” said the 84-year old

actor. “It’s powered by an all-

aluminum, computer-controlled,

supercharged and intercooled V8

engine—producing over 500 hp.”

It would be tempting to say that

this unconventional vehicle looks

like something straight out of Star

Trek, but its steampunk design

would probably actually be more

at home in the Kenneth Branagh

classic Wild Wild West. Shatner

has said that once it’s finished, he

plans to take the Rivet One on a

road trip from Chicago to LA,

presumably negotiating some

great deals on hotel rooms along

the way. The company is currently

taking requests for the trike on a

build-to-order basis. They haven’t

set a price yet, but if you have to

ask, you probably can’t afford it

(!)…Super Stang Coming?! Un-

fortunately, no. It relates to Aus-

tralian Supercar racing. Ford

dealers are prepared to put in

more than $1 mil a year to save

one of Austral-

ia’s greatest

sporting rival-

ries in a move

that could see a

Mustang take on

the Holden

Commodore in

‘17. News Corp

Australia can

reveal a network

New Foose Stuff! A joint press

release from Revell and Foose

around mid-May announced a

three-year licensing agreement

which will yield SIX Foose kits to

the Revell lineup, two drawn from

Foose’s real-world designs. They

will start with the ‘15 C7 Vette

and SRT8 Challenger (pre-

decorated). The list of available

cars where the two new kits will

come from include: his ‘34 Ford

Mercury-inspired “Stallion”, ‘35

“Grand Master” Chevy Master

Sedan, ‘36 “Impression” Ford

based roadster, ‘65 “Impostor”

Impala, ‘56 Ford F100 pickup

and Hemisfear custom coupe.

Voting will open on the Revell

and Foose social media sites this

month…Rivet One—the ‘Final

Frontier”?! In case you haven’t

heard, Star Trek legend William

Shatner is working with the mo-

torcycle fab company American

Wrench to design the Rivet One, a

limited-production trike equipped

with a Caddy CTS-V engine. It

rolled out on April 14th. It’s not

clear whether the powertrain will

be based around the CTS-V’s new

LT4 6.2-liter supercharged engine,

or the previous gen’s motor, but

either option should provide plen-

possibly OnStar) from it’s vehi-

cles if exemptions towards cop-

yright protections are contin-

ued. The dark side of this is

that there is the distinct possi-

bility that manufacturers would

use this to block third-party

mods, forcing end users

(vehicle owners) to deal only with

the company or approved repair

facilities for any modification or

repair, taking that freedom out of

the hands of the vehicle owner.

Think we’re overreacting? As re-

ported by Autoblog, John Deere

had this to say about the ability to

work around protected software

and tech, noting that it should be

“against public policy because

individual vehicle owners do not

have the technological resources

to provide safe, reliable and law-

ful software for repair, diagnosis

or some dubious “aftermarket per-

sonalization, modification or other

improvement” that is not directed

toward repair or diagnosis of the

vehicle.” That doesn’t sound good

from our ears, and that’s from a

tractor manufacturer. Imagine

what Ford or ‘GMC’ thinks about

third-party tuning companies

when the microphones are turned

off. Take the time to read Au-

toblog‘s review on the situation

and think about what you would

do, realistically, if you had no le-

gal choice but to go to the dealer-

ship each and every time the

check engine light came on…Hot

Rod BENTLEY?! Can Idris Elba

possibly get any cooler? If there’s

any justice in the world, that will

happen when he’s named the next

James Bond, but for now he may

have hit maximum cool. That’s

because the actor from The Wire,

Luther and Thor just broke an 88-

T ‘n T (contd)

introduction of V6 engines opens

the door for Ford to race the

American legend, the Mustang, or

several other cars in their line-up

including the Taurus, Mondeo and

Fusion. “Race on Sunday, sell on

Monday”—it worked for the US

automakers…NO Tinkering Al-

lowed?!? What would you do if

you legally were not allowed to

work on or modify your vehicle?

Nothing—not shoot codes from

the computer, not personalize the

infotainment system, not put

wrench to bolt? A move by Auto

Alliance, the lobby group that

represents the auto manufactur-

ers, would take a huge step to-

wards that reality if they get their

way over a dispute with the Elec-

tronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),

which is being reviewed by the

US Patent Office. Every three

years, the Patent Office reviews

the exemptions to one particular

law: the Digital Millennium Cop-

yright Act (DMCA). When the law

was written in ‘98, computers in

cars were minimal and were most-

ly diagnostic systems, nothing that

bothered anybody and were ac-

cepted. Now systems are much

more complex and control many

basic functions of a vehicle, in-

cluding brakes, acceleration and

steering, and on the surface at

least, the manufacturers are con-

cerned with the liability that they

could wind up with if a mechanic

botched a code and wound up

with no brakes (or a similar situa-

tion). ‘GMC has even gone so far

as to threaten to remove telemat-

ics software (GPS systems and

(Continued from page 6)

year-old “Flying Mile” record in

a Bentley. Since 1927, the record

for the fastest flying mile at the

Pendine Sands in Wales has stood

at 174.8 mph when it was set by

Sir Malcolm Campbell. Campbell

was driving a Napier-Campbell

Blue Bird race car. This is a Na-

pier-Campbell Blue Bird. The

Bentley is probably a slightly bet-

ter daily-driver. At any rate, Elba,

the British actor and noted car

guy, just averaged 180.361 mph

in a new Continental GT Speed to

break the record. The run was

done for a new Discovery Channel

series, Idris Elba: No Limits,

which airs in July. CNN Money

says that in the flying mile—

where a car gets up to speed be-

fore entering a timed zone—Elba

hit a top speed of 186 mph in the

Bentley, which is seriously not

bad on the beach’s wet, tightly

packed, smooth sand. Idris Elba is

the good kind of celebrity car

dude (Thanks to autoweek.com,

and other Internet sources for this

insanity! Ya just can’t make some

of it up!! Thanks also to those of

you in the Peanut Gallery who

have helped me entertain y’all by

sending stuff—I ‘preciate it!)

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 7

Page 8 MAMA Sez!

Joe Cavor-

ley Award:

1950 GM Fu-

tureliner, Jean-

Jacques Lilette,

Paris, France

For more

coverage, go to

their website,

where they have

links to numer-

ous albums of

attendees. Then

you can make

plans to attend

next years’ 30th Anniversary

celebration. Themes are “Cars

of the 30s,” and a special sub-

theme of “NNL East 30th Anni-

versary Cars and

Trucks” (utilizing the official

NNL East 30 decal sheets stuffed

into entrants’ goodie bags)!

Photos courtesy of the NNL East

website (P.S. Obviously, I’m

diggin’ the Futureliner and Pon-

tiac Safari cargo!!).

NNL East—what else can you

say?! The biggest model car show

and swap meet on the PLANET.

If you can’t find what you want

here, then you don’t need it!

As always, several MAMA’s

Boys attended, and we MAY even

have had a ‘mini-meeting’ there

(Ha! Ha!)!

The Friday night get-together

at the Tilted Kilt adjacent to the

Ramada Inn was relaxing, after

the long drive up. Going up the

day before and staying over is de-

cidedly preferable to getting up at

zero dark thirty the day of the

show and driving up—experience

(i.e., age!) has demonstrated this

fact!!

Without further ado, here are

the winners:

John Slivoski Award: 2006

#24 Jeff Gordon Superman NAS-

CAR—Clay Kemp

“Life’s A Gas—Gassers”:

1941 Willys, Ken Denza

“And Then You

Die...Professional Cars”: 1953

Hudson Service Car, Chris Moore

Special Web Theme—AMT

1953 Ford Pickup Kit: 1953 Ford

Custom Pickup, Tom Kren

Best Junior Award: Peter-

built 359 Service Truck, Alex

Melynchuk

NNL East

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 9

Mid-Atlantic NNL

Thanks to everyone’s hard work, our latest Mid-

Atlantic NNL show is in the history books! And while

numbers were down marginally from last year, quality

certainly was not!

Add to this the fact that club Prez Cruz delivered

on his promise to bring the Tooner guys out in force

for the new Tooner class, it was just icing on the cake.

It appeared as though there were a few empty ven-

dor tables, although it WAS nice to see Bonnie Crit-

tenden in attendance vending. Conversely, nearly eve-

ryone seemed to miss that MAMA standby of our

shows, Ron Hamilton. I spoke with Ron briefly a few

days after the event. He was returning from vacation

on show day, but realized that the show was NOT on

the 16th (following Saturday) when he read his e-

mailed copy of the newsletter. We missed ya, Ron!

I’d like to take this occasion to thank everyone for

their hard work, and especially thank the trophy spon-

sors as follows: Bradley’s Model Car Collectibles,

CPMCC, Historic Racing Miniatures, IPMS Rich-

mond, Lyle Willits, Marcos Cruz, Matt Guilfoyle,

Replicas & Miniatures Company of MD, and Terry

Adams. We appreciate your support!

Congrats to the following lucky winners:

Competition: Jack Bouman, ‘69 Camaro

Curbside: Bill Stillwagon, ‘60 Ford

Custom: Bill Stillwagon, Black Force/‘50 Ford

Ramp Truck

Replica Stock: Ron Palmer, ‘67 Mercury Comet

Street Machine: Terry Adams, ‘71 Chevelle

Street Rod: Rick Martin, ‘32 Ford

Truck/Light Commercial: Blair Fletcher, ‘36

Bedford

Tuner: Michael Hensley, Bensopra GTR

Gary Burkey Award: Barry Fadden, ‘37 Ford

Coupe

People’s Choice—Remembering 1965: Steven

Eberly, ‘65 Chevy pickup

People’s Choice—Gassers/Straight Front Axle

Cars: Terry Adams, ‘55 Chevy Gasser combo

People’s Choice—Junior: Lisa Wheeler, “Go

Daddy” Impala race car

People’s Choice—Adult: Steven Eberly, ‘65

Chevy pickup

Sharp-eyed readers will notice the sweep of the

Adult “Remembering 1965” and “People’s Choice”

awards by Steven Eberly and his ‘65 Chevy pickup. I

believe this is the first time in recorded MAMA histo-

ry that this has happened—kudos, Steve!

Pardon the absence of pictures. Go to the MAMA

website (www.mamasboyz.org) for albums of show

photos to see what you missed.

Now we just gotta choose themes for ‘16 if we

wanna do this again next year!

And this must be the Joker’s “Goon” car (Ha! Ha!)?!

Page 10 MAMA Sez!

but very nice. That and all the

paint and upholstery lists are an

added treat since they are hard

enough to find for more main-

stream cars. Good luck to those

who plan to customize this kit! I

can’t wait for Moebius to release

something I like. For years model-

ers have begged for kit subjects

like this and been told “they

wouldn’t sell well enough to make

it worth the investment”. I can un-

(Continued from page 3)

derstand that

point of view,

BUT working

with a vendor

for several years

now, I can tell

you that all of

the past Moebi-

us kits have

been hard to

keep in stock.

This past week-

end we damn

near sold out of

these kits in

record time!!

Hornet (contd)

Bill Coul-

ter’s latest liter-

ary triumph,

“Fifty Years of Mustangs” has to be seen to be be-

lieved! This is certain to have been a labor of love.

Let’s run the numbers: It spans over 200 pages,

consisting of over 41 Mustang contributors, and is

bigger by at least a third compared to his two recent

efforts—The Fabulous 50s and The Sizzlin’ 60s.

A chat with Bill yielded info that this was a year-

long project (1,500 to 1,800 hours!)—it certainly

shows! Being a modeler, Bill provides details we can

actually use in this book (as in all his books).

Pictures include models, real cars, box art, maga-

zine covers, brochures—even the dreaded ‘D’ word—

diecasts. In other words, everything, down to and IN-

CLUDING race cars!

To order, send USPS money order for $29.99

(plus $6 S+H) to: Bill Coulter, PO Box 111, Alpha,

Ohio 45301-0111, or via Paypal to com-

plex55@sbcglobal.net.

And, yes, I DID get a copy. I am a Pontiac lover,

first and foremost, but I like ALMOST ALL Ameri-

can cars!

Book Report!

by: Rich Wilson

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 11

New Stuff!!

Hot off the presses—the Revell third quar-

ter release sheet! I must express my surprise at

the appearance of not one, but TWO NASCAR

Ford Fusions. From what I’ve seen, I thought

‘NASCAR fever’ had run its course. Time

will tell, eh?

I’m NOT surprised at the new Raptor—I

am, however, surprised that we are getting it

prior to the end of the year (Ha! Ha!).

On the Round2 side of the street, there ap-

pears to be a bit more variety.

We should see the following: Ford Model

T delivery van, Shell tanker trailer, ‘41 Plym-

outh coupe, ‘71 T-bird, Cushman Duster

(think Petty kit car), VW Scirocco, Dodge De-

ora, ‘89 Batmobile, ‘40 Willys coupe, Honda

750 four motorcycle (1/8th), Honda Trail 70

mini-bike (1/8th), and a 1/25th scale deluxe

display case (chrome base). No timelines as to

when any of these will be available.

Late Breaking!

MAMA’s Boy Larry Boothe has apparently

made his presence known at the recent Greater

Salt Lake Model Car Contest. An e-mail from former

MAMA Prez Lyle Willits declared that Larry received

the Dave Shuklis Master Engineering Award (!) for

his ‘62 Corvette. Kudos, Larry! Thanks to Lyle Wil-

lits and Facebook for the scoop!

The cat is out of the bag! Visit the enclosed link for

an interesting article, and a sneak peek at an upcoming

Revell kit (as shown above). No idea whatsoever as it

relates to release dates. Get your orders in now (!)

http://craftsmanship.net/parts-recreation/

Looks like Matt Guilfoyle

strikes yet again! All you

‘UNCLE operatives’ will wanna

read on to see how to superdetail

your spy cars!

Paragafix (http://

www.paragrafix.biz/) has released

an upgrade photoetch and decal

set for the Piranha Super Spy

Car. The Piranha Super Spy Car

Photoetch and Decal Set is part

no. PGX192 and sells for $28.95.

The set reproduces every button

and display and includes working

photoetched door hinges. Also

included are a rear view mirror,

updated propellers, engine cover

details, seal belt hardware and

windshield wipers. The photoetch

set offers a half-scale copy of the

serial number plaque for the en-

gine compartment, and a large

UNCLE emblem.

The decals are highlighted

with metallic inks and include

nice wood grain details as well as

several options for license plates.

Here is a great Piranha refer-

ence website: http://www.c-

we.com/piranha/page4.htm.

In a bit of a different vein,

Historic Racing Miniatures

Model Buffet

“To the Batmobile?!?”

(Brad!) had JUST re-

leased at our MAMA

NNL, a set of center-

lock wheels and tires

for the new Tamiya

Mercedes Benz 300 SL

(see release notice else-

where). Talk about

timely, Brad—

thanks!! As always, if you

hear about something

of possible interest to

your fellow club mem-

bers, by all means, send it to my at-

tention for inclusion in a future col-

umn. Thanks again to Matt for creat-

ing this monster!

Page 12 MAMA Sez!

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 13

1/24th scale Mercedes Benz 300SL, Kit# 24338.,

MSRP $71.

Molded in white, gray and black plastic, with

chrome plated and clear plastic sprues, decals, metal

emblem transfers, and rubber tires. Also, nylon mesh

for the front air intake and window masking stickers.

Features well detailed tube frame, opening gull

wing doors that can be posed open, an open hood with

detailed engine.

By the way, for those of you seeking an alternate

wheel choice, refer to the Model Buffet column oppo-

site for a new product from Historic Racing Minia-

tures (a.k.a. Harold Bradford!).

This kit will be available for $56.00 from Brad-

ley’s Model Car Collectibles.

Photos courtesy of Tamiya USA website.

Tamiya M-B 300SL

Page 14 MAMA Sez!

Next-Gen Racers?!

Well gang, here, I guess, are the next-gen racers

using new sheetmetal (plastic?! Ha! Ha!). A cou-

ple’a new Z06s and a like number of Caddy CTSs

thrown in for good measure.

I don’t know about you, but they don’t do much

for me. I WILL say this, though—they ARE differ-

ent. I mean, how many ‘68 to ‘70 Camaros, and early

Vettes can you load up in current Pro Mod fields

without gettin’ tired of seein’ ‘em?!

Oh, and one more thing—wonder if ‘GMC’ has

any ‘backdoor’ dealings with any of these teams, like

back in the day, before the infamous racing ban took

affect, hmmm?!

FREE to a good home: Glass display case w/the following dimensions:

60” L x 53 1/2” H x 24” D (at base). Angled glass front starts 11” from the

floor, tapers to 15-1/2” deep @ the top. It has 3 shelves and white felt on

the case floor. The top is glass, but has cracked into 2 pieces. Can be used,

as the break is almost straight, front to back. This piece(s) of glass has nev-

er been attached, but is loose to slide! I never secured it. It could be re-

placed with a piece of clear acrylic sheet. Access is from rear sliders. The

catch is that this thing is a bit on the heavy side, and you’ll have to remove

it from my basement yourself! If interested, bring “3 strong men and a

boy!” Call Norm Veber at (410) 768-3648 or email norman-

veber@aol.com, if interested, want a look-see, or have any questions.

gear, and it sits on

a massive mon-

ster truck chassis

with a giant cow

catcher/plow at

the front for good

measure.

Buggy #9—a C3 Corvette rid-

ing on a truck chassis? Yeah, Bug-

gy #9 has to be one of the most

badass C3 Corvettes ever. Then

again, that might also have to do

with the quartet of exhaust pipes

hanging out each of the front

fenders and the gigantic machine

gun mounted out back.

The crazy thing is, a car like

this actually

existed back in

the ’70s (minus

the machine

gun, of

course!). The

C3 Vette wasn’t

exported to

Australia so a

company called

Custom Pe-

formance Mod-

ifications de-

cided to stick a

mold of the

C3’s body on

the chassis of a

Holden one-ton

Volume 27, Issue 10 June, 2015 Page 15

July 10th & 11th—Musclecar

Madness at the York Reunion.

This years’ theme—“Celebrating

the 50th Anniversary of the 1965

Super Stock Nationals.”

Sept. 13th—Super September

Showdown in Gilbertsville, PA.

Theme—“European Invasion.”

Stay tuned!

Oct. 10th—NNL #36 in Sylva-

nia, OH. Theme—”Demolition

Derby.”

Nov. 14th—Southern Nats

Dueling Car Movies?!

Nick and I recently ‘bit’ the

bullet and decided to see “Mad

Max: Fury Road” (only because

we had free passes). This one was

supposed to go head to head with

“Furious 7.” Lemme just say that

even though we have not seen

’F7’ (nor do we have any inten-

tion of seeing it!), it wasn’t even

close! ’Max’ took in only about

$45 mil compared to F7’s $147

mil. That said, just like the last

Mad Max film 30 years ago,

there’s plenty of post-apocalyptic

rat rod metal to be found on

screen. And the way it looks, it

seems the new film might actually

have Furious 7 licked for the

sheer amount of cars crammed

into service: there’s supposed to

be 130 cars and bikes and 198

stunts. Yeah. Of those cars, the

Gigahorse and Buggy #9 have to

near the top of the list.

The Gigahorse is probably

one of the wackiest yet coolest

automotive creations in the movie.

Its body is made of TWO—yes,

two—‘59 Caddy Coupe De Villes

stacked on top of each other, the

lower one widened slightly in or-

der to fit the upper car.

The whole glorious mess is

powered by TWO supercharged

V8s connected by a planetary

truck, according to Road & Track.

Known as the Perentti, the vehi-

cle’s truck chassis had a 120-inch

wheelbase—12-inches longer than

the Corvette—so the proportions

never looked quite right.

Plot—same ‘ol same ‘ol—still

hunting gas, with a small twist

thrown in. Then again, most of

you won’t go to this one looking

for a plot—the cars are enuf!

NNL, in Smyrna, GA. Theme—

”Vans & wagons.”

From the Baltimore Beltway

(RT 695): Take Exit 7, Route 295

(Baltimore-Washington Parkway)

south towards Washington approx.

18 miles to Route 193 (Greenbelt

Road), and exit. When on the off-

ramp, stay to the right and merge

right onto Southway (see below).

From the Washington Belt-

way (RT 495/95): Take Exit 22

north, towards Baltimore. Stay in

the right lane and take the first exit

onto Route 193 (Greenbelt Road).

When on the off-ramp, bear to the

right and take Greenbelt road west,

towards College Park. Stay in the

right lane and immediately after

passing over the Parkway, make a

right (at the light) onto Southway

(read on!)

Once on Southway: Go

straight to the second (2nd) STOP

sign. Make a left onto Crescent

road. Go to the STOP sign and

make a right into the parking lot

behind the Greenbelt Library.

Once in parking lot, look to the

right. The large, white building is

the Greenbelt Community Center.

Enter building using the doors near

fenced tot lot. The multi-purpose

room is on the second floor. There

is an elevator to the left of the en-

trance.

Directions

MAMA’s BoyZ do it in scale!

“New” Stuff this month:

Philly Area Car Modelers:

http://www.pacms.org/

Central PA Model Car Club:

http://www.freewebs.com/cpmcc/

NNL East:

http://www.nnleast.com/

East Coast Indoor Nationals:

www/eastcoastindoornats.com

Maryland Intl Raceway:

http://www.mirdrag.com/

Old Toyland Shows: http://

www.oldtoylandshows.com/.

Carlisle Events:

http://www.carlisleevents.com

York US30 Musclecar Madness:

www.yorkus30.com

Websites

Club Contact

Info

President: Marcos Cruz

cruz2123yb@yahoo.com

Vice President: Tim Powers

partsbox@verizon.net

Treasurer: Matt Guilfoyle

blackbuick1941@yahoo.com

Newsletter Editor: Tim Sickle

gtoguy@verizon.net

WANTED: I’m always on the

hunt for unbuilt/rebuildable Ponti-

acs in general (and GTOs, specifi-

cally ‘68 MPC hardtops and con-

vertibles, and ‘71 hardtops in par-

ticular!). I also have an extensive

collection to trade from. In search

of 1/8th scale Monogram ‘79 T/A,

1/25th scale ‘81 Firebird (snap), ‘66

Bonneville (MPC or Hasegawa),

‘69 to ‘72 Grand Prixs, and ‘70-’81

Formulas and T/As, and empty

Pontiac kit boxes. Would also like

to buy or borrow old AMT/ MPC/

Monogram/ Revell model car cata-

logs. Contact Tim Sickle at

gtoguy@verizon.net, or

see me at a meeting.

Thanks!

ClassifiedsThis is the newsletter of the

Maryland Automotive Modelers

Association

We’re on the web!

http://www.mamasboyz.org/

Tom (contd)

Chapter Contact:

Timothy Sickle

15905 Ark Court

Bowie, Maryland 20716

Phone: 301-249-3830

Email: gtoguy@verizon.net

Revell ‘57 Ford Del Rio

Ranch Wagon 2 ‘n 1

Revell F50 Ferrari

Revell Ford Panel Truck

Monogram Jinx Express

Revell BMW Z1

Revell Auto Transport Trailer

Galaxie ‘48 Chevy coupe

Moebius ‘71 Ranger pickup

Moebius ‘69 F100 custom

cab shortbed pickup (limited)

nold; a brother Marvin P., Sr.; sis-

ter Evelyn; niece Amanda and

great niece Leia; nephew Marvin

P. Jr., as well as his former wife

Carol Ann.

Contributions in his memory

may be made to the Wounded

Warrior Project, P.O. Box

758517, Topeka, KS 66675 or to

the National Pancreatic Cancer

Foundation, P.O. Box 1848,

Longmont, CO 80502.

Godspeed, Tom.

(Continued from page 1)